"Carina?" "Yes, Bambina?" She responded. "What if we adopted Hope? Or started the process?" I said with a nervous voice.
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POV Maya:
"I think that is a wonderful idea. Let's do it!" She said with excitement. "Ok then it is settled." I said. "I would have never thought I would want kids but Hope definitely changed my mind." I thought.
*At three in the morning*
We were all three sleeping peacefully, Hope sandwiched between Carina and I. Then, Hope rapidly sat up and was violently coughing which immediately woke us up. I looked at her and her face was full of panic.
She was pointing at her back pack, then I realized she needed her bronchodilator. I quickly jumped out of the bed and got her bronchodilator. After she took a few puffs of it, she was able to catch her breath.
"You ok, Hopey?" I ask her. "Yeah, just need to catch my breath" she says while still trying to catch her breath. "Ok bambina, I'm going to get my stethoscope and make sure that your breathing sounds ok. If it isn't, then we will probably have to take you to Grey-Sloan to get checked out. Ok?" Carina says to her.
POV Hope:
"Dang I haven't had one of these coughing episodes in a while" I said out loud. "It has happened before?" Momma asked. "Yeah, but not as bad as this time, this time was by far the worst" I say.
Mama comes back into the room, "Ok bambina, I need you to take a big deep breath in and out." I did what I was told. As I was letting the air out of my lungs, some mucus got caught in my airway. Which started another coughing episode.
"*cough* can't-t *cough* br-r *cough* breathe" I managed to choke out. Then, coughing caused me to throw up a mixture of mucus and what I had in my stomach. It was all over myself and momma and mama's bed.
POV Maya:
After Hope's second coughing episode, I looked at Carina and she knew exactly what each other was thinking. "Hopey, bambina. Let's go get cleaned up and momma will clean up. Then, we go to the Grey-Sloan and get you checked out." She says to Hope. "O-Ok" she said while catching her breath.
I quickly stripped the bed and threw the sheets and comforter into the washer. I heard the shower stop and went into Hope's room.
"Hey, just in case we need to stay for a while, grab some stuff to do at the hospital." I say to her through the door of the bathroom. "Okay" she yells in the bathroom. I headed toward our room when I saw Carina sitting at the kitchen table with her elbows on the table and head tucked between them.
I walked to her slowly and wrapped my arms around her waist. She jumped a little. I gave her a kiss on the side of her face. "Are you ok?" I ask her while she leans her head back and into the crook of my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine bella. Just worried for Hope...." she said with a worried voice.
"I will be fine," Hope interjected. Making both Carina and I whip our heads toward Hope, who just rolled into the kitchen. "We know you will. Are you ready to go?" I ask. "Yeah? But mama is definitely not ready to go and you are sort of ready to go." She says while looking at us. "Right. We will get ready. Just give us 15 minutes." I say back.
POV Hope:
After they left the kitchen, I decided to grab coffee and a protein shake for the road. I made extra for mama and momma. I lined up our thermos, filled them up with coffee. Obviously, I filled mine up with soy milk because still lactose intolerant and honey. While momma and mama have regular milk and sugar.
Then, I start coughing again. It wasn't a long episode. I definitely had to spit out the mucus that came up. Of course when I spit out the mucus into the trash can, mama comes barreling. "BAMBINA! ARE YOU OK?!?!?" She says with a panic while running up to me. "*spitting noise* Yup, I'm good. I have dealt with these before on my own" I said but the last part I said quieter. "Do you want to talk about it?" Mama asked me.
"Umm....Here is the coffee I made for us" I said while handing the thermos to mama and trying to avoid the question just asked. She got down at my level and spoke "Hey look at me. Talk to me. What is happening in that pretty brain of yours?" I didn't say anything, I just sat there, trying not to make eye contact with her.
POV Carina:
Hope was closing herself off again. Whenever Maya and I try to talk to Hope about her past, she either tries to avoid it all together or goes quiet. "Ok we don't have to talk about it." I say to her, not wanting to push her anymore.
"Ok are we all ready to go?" Maya says while walking into the kitchen. "Yup" I say while getting up from bending down to Hope's level. Maya gave me a confused look, but I mouthed "tell you later". Which she saw and nodded her head. "Hope, why don't you take the keys to my car, take Toby to the bathroom one more time and then get into the car." I tell her while handing her the keys. "Ok" she said while taking the keys.
POV Maya:
After Hope went outside, I went over to my wife who was still stressed out about Hope. I gave her a hug and said "she is going to be ok." "How are you this calm?" She said in a panic. "I'm not, I'm freaking out but I know I have to stay calm for her." I said to Carina.
I grabbed the coffee that Hope made for me and then paperwork I brought home from work and headed to the car. On our way to Grey-Sloan, Hope and Carina fell asleep. Granted, it was 4:30 in the morning and we all have been up since 3. Also Toby was sound asleep as well, I didn't mind though. It was a quiet ride to the hospital.
We arrived in the hospital, I parked the car and gently shook Carina and Hope awake. "Hey we are here" I said in a soft voice to both of them. We all got out of the car and into the ER entrance of Grey-Sloan. We got checked in and we went to the ER bed they assigned to us and waited for a doctor to make their way to us.
POV Hope:
I sat in my wheelchair, with my earbuds in, lost in my headspace. It felt like everything else was in slow-motion. I can't tell if it is my exhaustion or my nerves. I was snapped out of my thoughts when the doctor came. It wasn't any doctor, it was uncle Andrew.
I quickly took out one earbud and put it in the case, still leaving one in.
POV Andrew:
When the nurse said I have a patient in bay 3, I quickly grabbed the iPad and looked at it. When I read the file, I ran as fast as I could to bay 3.
"Hey! Y'all ok?" I asked all of them. "Yeah Maya and I are but Hope needs to be checked out" Carina says to me. "Ok kiddo. Let's get you checked out" I said to Hope. Carina explained what brought them in at 4:30 in the morning.
"Ok, your mama was right, so we are going to take you to get a CT scan of your lungs. Then, we will go from there." I say to Hope. "Ok, come on Toby" She says, which that is when I notice the dog.
As Carina, Hope, Maya and I were walking to the CT room, I asked Carina quietly "where did the dog come from and why did you get a dog?" "Toby is Hope's Psychiatric support dog. Maya and I decided after she had a panic attack at the gala, she needed something to help her. That is why we got a dog." She said to me.
POV Hope:
We dropped our stuff off at mama's office and then headed to the CT room. We got to the CT room and momma helped me on the scanning table, I was pretty nervous. I have been pretty nervous these past day or two. Toby helps but I'm still on edge for a reason that is unknown to me. Then, they all left and I was left alone with a huge machine.
"Hey we are here in the room next door. Are you ok?" I hear uncle Andrew say over the comms. "Yeah I'm ok. Just ready for this to be over with." I said which followed with a chuckle. Although, half way through the scan, I needed to get out.
"I NEED TO GET OUT! I NEED TO GET OUT NOW!" I screamed at them.
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Author's note: Why does Hope need to get out of the CT machine.
Any guesses on why?
School is about to start for me, so uploads are going to be twice a week.
Sneak peek: "D-did y'all get the imaging y'all needed? Cause if not, I think I'm ok to go back in" Hope said while Carina was still behind her supporting her up.